Monthly Archives: October 2017

Climate Justice Forum: Alberta Oil Train Derailment, Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, Climate Activist Necessity Defenses, Spokane Proposition 2 Contentions, Seattle Tar Sands Financer Protests, Montana Fracking, Utah Tar Sands Mine Bankruptcy 10-25-17

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The Wednesday, October 25, 2017 Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features news and reflections on an Alberta oil train derailment and nearby evacuations, the second largest Gulf of Mexico oil drilling spill, climate necessity defenses for Spokane oil and coal train blockaders and Minnesota and Montana tar sands pipeline valve turners, legal and finance contentions over the Spokane coal and oil train ballot initiative, Alta Mesa underpayment of Oklahoma gas royalties, protest disruptions of 100 Seattle bank branches financing tar sands projects, Tongue River Valley, Montana, oil and gas development, and bankruptcy of a long-contested, Utah, tar sands mine.  Broadcast for five and a half years on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow, every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm Pacific time, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show describes continent-wide, community resistance to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Idaho Oil & Gas Ordinances & Forced Pooling, Tesoro Anacortes Refinery Megaloads, Washington Tar Sands Pipeline Expansion, Spokane & Minnesota Climate Necessity Defenses 10-18-17

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The Wednesday, October 18, 2017 Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features news and reflections on protective, local ordinances and forced pooling of oil and gas leases in Idaho, Tesoro megaload upgrades of an Anacortes refinery, possible expansion of a northwest Washington, tar sands pipeline, and Spokane and Minnesota court decisions allowing activists’ necessity defense and climate change expert testimony.  Broadcast for five and a half years on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow, every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm Pacific time, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show describes continent-wide, community resistance to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Tesoro Anacortes Refinery Megaloads, Moscow Indigenous Peoples Day, Shelley Brock of CAIA on Idaho Oil & Gas Forced Pooling, North Dakota Felony Convictions of Tar Sands Valve Turners 10-11-17

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The Wednesday, October 11, 2017 Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features news and reflections on nine Andeavor-Tesoro megaloads moving from the Port of Anacortes to a March Point refinery, Moscow City Council renaming of Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day, Shelley Brock of Citizens Allied for Integrity and Accountability on forced pooling of oil and gas leases and development in Idaho, and court refusal of climate change testimony before the North Dakota, felony convictions of tar sands pipeline valve turners Michael Foster and Sam Jessup.  Broadcast for five and a half years on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow, every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm Pacific time, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show describes continent-wide, community resistance to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Resist Andeavor/Tesoro Anacortes Refinery Megaloads!

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Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) activists learned on Wednesday, October 4, that Andeavor (formerly Tesoro) and its hauler Mammoet will soon transport nine massive, prefabricated, refinery upgrading components from the Port of Anacortes to March Point, Washington [1-3].  These “module movements” started rolling through Anacortes between Monday, October 2, and Thursday, October 5, off-loaded at the port and transfered multiple times during daylight hours (8 am to 5 pm) to a staging area at R Avenue and Ninth Street in Anacortes.  For their part in this scheme, Washington Department of Transportation crews did some overnight work on Wednesday-Thursday, October 4 and 5, requiring single lane closures and brief traffic holds while preparing to swing some intersection signal lights out of the path of the behemoths.  The first three “superloads” measure more than 30 feet wide and high and 200-plus feet long, but the last six cargos are smaller.

Mammoet is moving only one combination of tractor pull and push trucks, trailers, and pieces of refinery equipment per night during five early morning hours (midnight to 5 am), eastbound along sections of road successively closed then reopened to all regular traffic.  The oversized units will each travel 6.5 miles over minimal hills on Friday night, October 6-7, through Sunday morning, October 15.  During the first hour (midnight to 1 am), they will disrupt R Avenue between the staging area and Washington Highway 20, and according to posted warning signs, impede Highway 20 to March Point Road between 1 and 2:30 am, March Point Road to the North Texas Road intersection between 2 and 3:30 am, and that intersection to the North Texas gate and into the refinery between 3:30 and 4:30 am.  Mammoet must safely cover each segment of the route, from the staging area to its destination, during the designated time slots, or abandon its attempt for the night.

Andeavor claims that, “as part of our Clean Products Upgrade Project, the new modules will enable the refinery to further reduce the sulfur content of its transportation fuels, and meet the new Federal Tier 3 standards to reduce emissions.”  But WIRT encountered other likely deceptive, oil company propaganda concerning sulfur when the last three mining and refining megaloads crossed Idaho and Montana to a Great Falls tar sands refinery in fall 2014.  We believe that these megaloads upgrading the Andeavor refinery at March Point could expand its capacity to process Canadian tar sands, and thus impose myriad harms and forestall transitions to clean, alternative energy sources: Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Longview Coal Terminal Rejection, Derailed Montana Coal Combustion, North Idaho Railroad Expansion & Spill Training, Coal Dust Health Impacts, North Dakota Valve Turner Trial 10-4-17

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The Wednesday, October 4, 2017 Climate Justice Forum radio program, produced by regional, climate activist collective Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features news and reflections on Washington state permit rejection of a Longview coal terminal, combustion of derailed coal in Montana, north Idaho rail bridge and track expansion, catastrophic spill training on Lake Pend Oreille, coal dust impacts on human health, and tar sands pipeline valve turner Michael Foster’s trial in a North Dakota court.  Broadcast for five and a half years on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow, every Wednesday between 1:30 and 3 pm Pacific time, on-air at 90.3 FM and online, the show describes continent-wide, community resistance to fossil fuel projects, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.